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- A Fox News ticker headline for the ages
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Presumptive Speaker-in-waiting Kevin McCarthy can’t get enough enemies within his own party, and if he weren’t so singularly loathsome we might almost respect him for that.
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It’s no secret that the ultra-MAGA wing of the House GOP already hates his guts, a hatred they parlayed into a “Never Kevin” campaign, and there may be enough of them to deny him the speakership. So to address that problem in a roundabout way, McCarthy went on Fox News (where else) to take a shot across the bow at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for working with the Democratic majority in the upper chamber on a year-end deal to fund the government through September, instead suggesting that Republicans should hold annual appropriations hostage until Republicans take control of the House in January, and can use the threat of a government shutdown to extort Democrats into slashing programs that help poor people. Heck of a guy, that McCarthy fella.
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Alas, for him, on Tuesday night, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy said that lawmakers had reached a “bipartisan, bicameral framework that should allow us to finish an omnibus appropriations bill,” that he believes should be able to clear both houses of Congress and make its way to President Biden. Thus far, the main point of contention among negotiators is the disparity between domestic and defense spending, both of which will likely see a significant boost. House Republicans are trying to stop the omnibus in its tracks because it will deny them a hostage, but Senate Republicans seem eager to stop their House counterparts from engaging in the kind of legislative terrorism that makes people hate Republicans so much!
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Also in Congress today, survivors of last month’s deadly shooting at a Colorado gay nightclub testified about the considerable uptick in threats of violence against the LGBTQ community, and urged lawmakers to ban some semiautomatic weapons. The testimony was is especially poignant because it fell on the 10 year anniversary of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and little has changed in the past decade. As always, the year-end congressional agenda doesn’t include legislation banning semiautomatic firearms due to Republican opposition. Many Democrats including Bidenhave talked a big game on the need for gun control legislation, especially given that the most notable mass shootings of the past 10 years have targeted particular social, ethnic, or religious groups. True to form, Republicans cravenly accused Democrats of “exploiting a tragedy” for “political gain”. You know what would be the true political gain? More Americans being able to live out their full lives instead of dying at the hands of gun violence.
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But there’s drama on the other side of the aisle, as well.
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And by that we are of course talking about Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ). Sinema is still going around peddling a personal mythology in which she’s assumed John McCain’s “maverick” mantle. But as our own Jon Favreau pointed out, if McCain were in the same position, he would have most likely been more forthright about the true motive for the switch (that she is staring down the face of a losing primary next election cycle). The late John McCain was many things, but he would only occasionally bullshit at this level. She has the entire Democratic Party over a barrel, because Arizona is a must-win state for Dems in 2024, which will already be an exceedingly difficult Senate-election cycle.
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When Sinema first announced that she was leaving the Democratic Party, Democratic leadership felt compelled to publicly support her decision, but more vocal detractors have emerged in the intervening days. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said he would consider supporting any Democratic candidate who mounts a challenge against Sinema from the left, arguing that she has “helped sabotage” some of Congress’ most important legislation of the past two years. Sanders was circumspect in his comments and said he would have to see who the Arizona Democratic Party nominated, but Sinema should pay consequences for her insouciance. The DSCC which finances and protects incumbent senators, had no comment as to whether Sinema’s status changes the state of play, but it absolutely should not back her. Sinema said she won’t caucus with Republicans, but has intentionally steered clear of confirming whether she will vote with Democrats, either.
Congressional Dems need to get their shit together and fast, because the rising Republican-controlled House is clear-eyed on their cruel goals.
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If you’ve ever messaged a friend about a manager who won’t stop texting after hours or a co-worker who keeps posting weirdly suggestive Austin Powers GIFs in Slack - you’re not alone. On Work Appropriate, author and host Anne Helen Petersen sets out to find solutions to these oddly specific yet completely universal listener-submitted questions. Whether you work in an office chair or a sixth grade classroom - the problems may be limitless but so are the solutions!
Listen to Work Appropriate now, wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop every Wednesday. Check it out!
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From the moment the Dobbs decision was handed down, it was clear that for the anti-choice movement, overturning Roe was just the beginning. They have since pushed through truly draconian abortion bans at the state level, but with each victory a new target emerges. Now anti-abortion advocates have set their sights on abortion-pill distributors, doing vigilante investigations, and calling for abortion-pill providers to be jailed, even if the procedure is legal in the state of origin. Republican lawmakers in Texas are prepping legislation that would require internet providers to block abortion-pill resources websites, in the same way that they block child sexual-abuse images. New research released today adds to a growing body of evidence of the strong correlation between restrictive abortion policies and higher rates of maternal and infant mortality, but the “pro-life” movement remains curiously unmoved by that reality. The Commonwealth Fund, which conducted the study, found that an estimated 39 percent of counties in states with the most restrictive abortion bans can be accurately categorized as “maternity care deserts.”
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If it seems like we take a lot of shots at apartheid billionaire and Twitter CEO Elon Musk, well it’s because he gives us new reasons to do so every day. Back in November 2021, the United Nations World Food Programme outlined how $6 billion of Musk’s wealth could effectively end world hunger, and when he made an unspecified $5.7 billion donation days later, many assumed that he had given it to the U.N. But earlier this year, it was revealed through an SEC filing that Musk had given that money to his own foundation, a tax-exempt $9.4 billion organization with just three employees (Musk is one of them) that doles out about $160 million in grants each year, a drop in the bucket. Charitable foundations are often used by the billionaire class as tax shelters, and are therefore rife with this kind of self-dealing. Cannot overstate what a cartoon villain this man is!
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